Malika Saada Saar, JD, is the founder and executive director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, a national legal and policy organization that advocates for justice, dignity, and reform for vulnerable families.

The Ford Foundation recently honored The Rebecca Project for Human Rights' achievements with the "Leadership for Changing World" award. Ms. Saada Saar and the Rebecca Project for Human Rights were also selected by Redbook Magazine for the Mothers and Shakers 2005 Award. Ms. Saada Saar is the founder of Crossing the River, a written and spoken word workshop for mothers in recovery from substance abuse, and the founder and former executive director of Family Rights and Dignity, a civil rights project for low income and homeless families in California.

Ms. Saada Saar and The Rebecca Project have been featured in Essence Magazine, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Good Morning America , USA Today, Tavis Smiley Show, and Redbook Magazine.

Ms. Saada Saar received her B.A. from Brown University, M.A. in Education from Stanford University, and received her JD from Georgetown University in 2001.

Sentencing alternatives for incarcerated mothers, such as family-based treatment programs, promote evidence-based outcomes and cost-effective approaches–and honors the sacred ties between mothers and their children.

Despite its worthy mission,
the White House common ground agenda needs some serious tweaking. There
is a need to reframe the agenda in a larger discourse of honoring motherhood
and honoring the sacredness of women and girls’ lives.

Malika Saada Saar writes in her reader diary, “I write these words to give honor to Neda and the other Iranian women who dare the brutality of the Basij and military forces, and fearlessly raise their voices against crushing tyranny.”

Please know that I recognize the need for privacy during a time of tragedy and attempted healing. But I ask that you consider how this might be a teaching moment that recognizes the sacredness of women and girls’ lives.

Here in the United States, where the rights of freedom and equality define our history of struggle, American women and girls do not possess a freedom to live out our full potential — unencumbered by violence.

A new reproductive health movement must include language about mothering with dignity. For vulnerable mothers, mothering with dignity means opportunities to heal from sexual violence, child welfare practices, education, and alternative sentencing to maternal incarceration and sentencing reform.